


One thousand paper cranes are too many cranes

by Lady_Tragedy



Series: One thousand paper cranes [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, How Do I Tag, M/M, One Thousand Paper Cranes Series, Wishes, it was meant to be fluffy but this came out, paper cranes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 08:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7794178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Tragedy/pseuds/Lady_Tragedy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ancient legends say that those who fold one thousand paper cranes will have one wish granted by the gods, as a reward for their efforts.</p><p>Defeated, believing that only a miracle could save his relationship, Hinata teared his eyes off the moon and was about to fall asleep when a little red thing on his night stand caught his eye. Hinata smiled. Maybe a miracle was all he needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One thousand paper cranes are too many cranes

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so, I suck at summaries and I shouldn't really be posting this because why do I make people suffer, but here you go, the product of a real heartbreak and fifty seven paper cranes lying at the bottom of my drawer.
> 
> This is the first shot of a series involving the "One thousand paper crane" theme, and not all of them will be as sad, I promise!
> 
> Tie your belts and, if possible, listen to "I wish you love" by Rachel Yamagata just so you get in the mood. Enjoy (or not).

Summer surprised Hinata Shouyou with a sudden monsoon furiously whipping rain drops on his back. He was drenched in a matter of seconds, orange locks sticking to his eyes while he tried (and failed) to avoid the puddles on the pavement in full sprint.

 

Even though it still was technically spring, the rain season hadn’t waited until Thursday (the solstice) to start pouring all over Miyagi. Seasons be damned, it had been raining for almost three days now, although they had been barely there breezes of sprinkled water, not full-blown tropical-like hurricanes like this one.

 

The downpour was just too much, and Hinata had to change tactics before the streets flooded completely. There were already tiny rivers running along the sides of the street, and Hinata could perfectly picture his dead body floating face-down in the middle of some big avenue.

 

Quickly scanning his surroundings through plastered eye-lashes, he realized he was just a few blocks away from Kageyama’s house. _Lucky_ , he thought. Being trapped inside a big house with an X-box and his boyfriend in the middle of a storm was a brilliant idea, in Hinata’s opinion. If there was some hot chocolate involved (there sure would be), then the whole scenario was even more appealing.

 

Breaking into another sprint, Hinata directed all his efforts in not tripping over and hurt himself, God forbid Kageyama scolded him again for being so lousy (which he really wasn’t, it just happened that Hinata had a very, very bad luck). Miraculously, he managed to stop at his boyfriend’s door without so much as a few mini-heart-attacks suffered while almost falling after slipping on the wet pavement.

 

Hinata smiled widely, already excited and giddy all over at the perspective of spending some time out of practice with Kageyama. They spent a lot of time together, that much was true, but they almost always were out doing something (like going to the movies or eating pork buns with their team) or had other things in mind rather than just chilling together. Hinata could count with his fingers how many times they had actually spent time alone, indoors, relaxing and with nothing else to do than being together.

 

So now, he felt a flutter in his stomach when he heard the heavy footsteps he knew to be his boyfriend’s. Hinata could already imagine the warm embrace Kageyama would probably give him, and the kisses he’d manage to steal when playing video games. This was going to be a great afternoon, rain and everything.

 

When Kageyama opened the door, though, he didn’t seem pleased to see the read-head there. In fact, besides the initial surprise of having him over because of the rain, Kageyama Tobio didn’t react at all. He threw a towel over Hinata’s head and commanded him to dry himself before stepping inside.

 

Hinata ignored the mild sting in his chest and tried to be logic. He was dripping wet, and cold, and surely enough Tobio didn’t want to wet himself so yeah, he should just dry himself off and then there would be hugs and kisses for him. Possibly.

 

As it turned out, “ _possibly_ ” implied that there was an actual _possibility_ of him not getting any kind of affection, at all. Hinata still went along, and decided that it was all because Tobio was so busy: apparently there were things that needed to be done all over the house, and he needed to do them right now or the house would collapse (or something like that). Hinata helped, and hugged Tobio briefly as soon as he had the chance, placing gentle almost-not-there kisses to the back of his neck and hand.

 

The shorter boy also ignored the way Tobio seemed hesitant next to him. It was something that had never happened before, but suddenly Kageyama felt the need to ask wether he wanted tamago rolls or onigiris (when he knew perfectly well just how much Hinata loved those tuna-filled onigiris that Kageyama’s mom always left on the fridge). Or he refused (at first) to sit on the same couch they had always shared while playing.

 

It was weird, but it probably was temporary, like bad weather.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Hinata left that night before the rain stopped completely, because that heavy feeling on his chest simply wouldn’t let him breath whenever he noticed another odd thing about Kageyama’s behaviour.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The end of his second summer of high school found Hinata lying on his bed and staring at his ceiling endlessly. The heavy feeling in his chest didn’t feel like a weight so much as a hole. A big, cold hole that went all the way through his torso, settled in the place were his lungs and heart should be.

 

Shouyou felt like the hole was so big, that his entire body would collapse by the mere weight of his head. He was nothing more than an unstable structure, precariously mantaining itself upright by the sheer confusion of those who can’t understand yet the lethalness of their wounds. Had Shouyou been less in denial, he would probably be a total wreck by now.

 

Feeling like his every move drew eight years off of his life, Hinata slowly sat up and turned to his right, the open window gifting him with the sight of the velvety dark night sky, sprinkled with a lot of beautiful stars and a crescent moon so big and yellow that reminded him of a chunk of cheese.

 

He looked intently at the sky, trying to find there the warm feelings that had grown within his heart not so much time ago. Carding his fingers through his messy orange hair softly, Hinata couldn’t help but evoke those nights he had spent looking at the stars hopefully, feeling connected to his loved one through something as ridiculous and beautiful as the night asters. How naive of him to believe he’d have a “Happy Forever After” just because his high school sweetheart had returned his feelings and accepted to date him.

 

Now there was nothing warm, nor soft, nor cute about them. And Hinata felt helpless, not knowing what to do to fix what they had. Defeated, believing that only a miracle could save his relationship, Hinata teared his eyes off the moon and was about to fall asleep when a little red thing on his night stand caught his eye.

 

There, folded sloppily, was a paper crane Natsu had given him a few days ago. She had come home from summer-school telling that old story about the paper cranes and wishes come true, and showing off her paper-folding skills.

 

Hinata smiled. Maybe a miracle was all he needed.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Folding one thousand paper cranes was easier said than done. After folding like four of those (with colored sheets, and in the tiniest size he could manage to avoid wasting too much paper), Shouyou realized that even if he did worked his ass off folding all day long, it would take him more than a month to finish his task. And, truth to be told, he didn’t think he could keep swallowing the dread he felt in his throath whenever Tobio did something hurtful.

 

Actually, he didn’t even think he could sustain a decent conversation with Kageyama for more than a day, never mind the month and a half (maybe two) that would be needed for all that folding. Somehow, Hinata just felt like Tobio spoke an entirely different language, and he couldn’t understand him at all, nor reach him in whatever state of mind he currently was. Hinata felt like a complete stranger, and the worst part of it all was that neither of them had stopped latching onto the almost completely severed ties that had kept them together so far.

 

They weren’t fixing it, but they weren’t letting go either. All Hinata could do now was fold, and so he did.

 

While he folded, he also made an effort to keep Kageyama close and get along with him again. They started to went out for dates again, and they both did their best to overcome those awkward silences that had become more and more frequent throughout the summer. Hinata realized that his love for Tobio was a real thing (more real than he had initially thought), and that as long as they played volley, things could be great.

 

He also realized that if there was no volleyball, no matter how much they loved each other, they were definitely _not okay_. And with that realization a terrible feeling of hopelessness started seeping into his thoughts, not going away even when he focused with all his might in the wish he wanted to do after he finished his paper cranes.

 

One night, Shouyou was working on his paper sheets when his phone chimed softly. Startled, he picked up his phone to find a text from Kageyama.

 

 **From:** Kageyama Tobio  <3

 **To:** Me

Hi, you know what time practice starts next week?

 

Hinata stared at his phone for a few seconds, an uncomfortable feeling twisting his gut already. He took a deep breath and replied as fast as he could.

 

 **From:** Me

 **To:** Kageyama Tobio <3

Not sure, maybe you can ask Suga-san? He surely won’t scold you unlike Daichi-san :P  How r u?

 

Willing himself to not stop his everything to wait for the answer, he forced his fingers to fold the pink-ish piece of paper a few more times until the angle of the wings was just right. Sighing, Hinata picked up another bit of paper and started folding, until his phone chimed again.

 

 **From:** Kageyama Tobio  <3

 **To:** Me

Fine, thanks. I’ll send you the right time when I have it

 

Shouyou stared again, his gut wrenching again. Was he overreacting? Was this the way relationships worked normally? Had he done something wrong?

 

Looking at his hands, settled atop the tiny paper crane, Hinata was forced to reconsider what was he doing with his life. Why was he dedicating so much time to... this? The cranes, the dates, the texts. Was he even happy? If this is how his relationship with Tobio would always be, did he really want it? As much as to spend over a month hunched over a desk, folding miniature paper cranes?

 

 _One thousand paper cranes are too many paper cranes. You must really want that wish to spend so much time doing them. Do I want it enough to keep folding cranes for so long?_ , Hinata couldn’t help but wonder.

 

He looked down at his hands, then out to the night sky.

 

He sighed.

 

One thousand paper cranes were too many paper cranes. And, as it ended up, Hinata apparently didn’t want his wish to come true that much. So, he took his coloured paper and stuffed it into a box, over the almost 70 paper cranes he had already done. He tossed the box aside an flipped his phone open.

 

 **From:** Me

 **To:** Kageyama Tobio <3

Hey, Kageyama. We need to talk.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for that! If you liked it, maybe you wanna take a peek to my other (equally tragic) works:  
> Don't come too soon (AsaNoya): http://archiveofourown.org/works/4532235  
> If (right choices) (KageHina): http://archiveofourown.org/works/3348566?view_adult=true
> 
> Also, I'm working on more one-shots for this series, so if you want a pairing/topic in specific, just comment and I'll try my best! Thanks for reading!!


End file.
